The Experience — Restaurant in Town of Smithtown

We just had our daughter's bat mitzvah at Simplay. Most of my guests had the misconception that it is just a kids party place so they were impressed with the cool lounge style Studio 180 the adults were in for the cocktail hour - away from the kids - and the kids had fun playing on the simulators and the other games, and were entertained for that hour. Better than a venue where you need to pay extra to bring in games to keep the kids occupied. We added the sushi platters and it was still very reasonable for cost compared with other places we looked at, and everyone enjoyed all of the passed hors d'oevres (with many options to choose from). We didn't miss having hot stations like at the big temple venues we've been to for a lot of parties because really with a four hour party, how much can you eat? There were plenty of passed items along with the sushi. Once we moved into the main room, more surprise from our guests who had no idea they hosted parties like this and it could look just as nice as the temple venues that are so popular (and higher cost). There is a cool look in the room with high industrial ceilings paired with chandeliers (but not old style stuffy), it makes for a really good base for whatever decor you want to add. Simple white and gray, very easy to make it your own. We did large round balloons from the ceiling that worked really well and simple centerpieces that didn't obstruct view of dance floor and some simple lounge pillows and table lanterns on the kids tables (with some small tables and high tops) and we felt it didn't need anything else. We had some uplighting added from our DJ so we could lock the color but could have gone with in house lighting that changes color. The mirrors that have video screens were a great built in addition so we didn't need to rent from the DJ company. The room was spacious for enough space between the kids lounge (you can rent white or black lounge furniture for reasonable price compared with what entertainment companies charge) and the adult area. We had 50 kids in the teen lounge and 7 tables of adults (60 people) on the adult side. I wouldn't recommend going over 7 tables on one side because it was just right and we had no tables more than 10 people, but if you did a few more tables it would start getting closer to the dance floor. We also had a large photo booth set up and a light up stage so that took up the space as well. If you had all tables on both sides and no lounge you could do more adults for a different kind of party. For dinner, it is buffet style which is a little different than the usual sit down dinner at a lot of mitzvahs, but it worked well because our kid guests had their own buffet with kid friendly food, and the adults had four choices of entree, two sides, a pasta and a salad (with numerous selections we could choose for those). Servers assisted so it all went smoothly and guests were able to try more than one entree option. I've heard only good things about the food from guests, and we had to accommodate a few gluten free and vegetarian and had good options. For dessert we chose the sundae bar but we were also able to add a cake to stick with tradition. We added the candy bar exit which Simplay set up for us, we bought the candy and bags and they had different size glass containers to put it in. We were able to drop off all of our candy, favors, etc. prior to the day of to have less stress that day. We had a room to change into our party clothes that was roped off from the party area. The service staff were all on top of their jobs, and Simplay's GM/maitre d' Michael was always around, even checking in to see if needed a drink :) He was easy to work with. Simplay doesn't require the high minimum numbers of adults that many traditional mitzvah venues do which worked for us. If my daughter wasn't one of the last mitzvahs of her grade, I think this party might have inspired more families to look at Simplay for theirs. It was a great value, but also a great event experience. Photos not back yet from...

We chose Simplay for our daughter’s Bat Mitzvah because we liked the option of games/sports in addition to dancing for our sporty kid, and boy are we happy we did!

From the very start of planning, manager/event director Michael Rodriguez (also the maitre d’ for the party) was on top of every detail. Throughout the planning process, he was readily available (e-mail or text), responsive, insightful, and full of advice and suggestions about vendors, decor and food that made our party significantly more festive, fun, joyful, and “lit” (as the kids said)! We were thrilled with his deejay recommendation (Party Harty) and decor people (Lighter Than Air - see photo), and the catering, which was done on-site, and was DELICIOUS, with an enormous list of options for every palette. There were also multiple party packages available depending on the type of event, and when I visited the venue a few times, I saw corporate retreats, Christmas parties, Sweet 16s and Bar/Bat Mitzvahs with everybody looking like they were having a great time.

At our event, Michael personally oversaw many decorating and logistical details - he set up a gorgeous cocktail room with vases and floating candles and was able to set up AV equipment for a Kahoot session last minute, plus kept the party flowing and on-track with minimum stress for me. My guests had a phenomenal time and particularly loved the simulators during cocktail hour, which offered football, baseball, soccer, golf, basketball, and zombie games. Both kids and adults were having an absolute ball with the simulators, which also served as great ice-breakers for groups of people who didn’t know each other well.

As a result, the energy was super-high when the dinner/dance party started, and everywhere I looked, people were jumping, screaming, dancing, laughing and having a fabulous time! I was able to fully enjoy the party with minimal directorial responsibilities thanks to the superb maitre d’ skills of Michael, who even personally fixed me a plate of food and got me drinks because I was so busy with my guests. I HIGHLY recommend this venue, the staff, and especially the director, Michael Rodriguez, for a top-shelf, off-the-hook,...

Our Boys High School Lacrosse Booster Club recently planned and had our end of season dinner at Simplay. Everyone had a great time and raved about the venue!! We had about 122 people attend that included both JV and Varsity Teams, Coaches and a number of parents. There was plenty of room and everyone fit very comfortably in the dining area. Michael Rodriguez was great to work with and made planning our event so easy!! The boys (ages 14-18 years old) started the evening with an hour on the sports simulators and other games in the simulator room. That was a huge hit! The boys had a great time! We were provided with plenty of time during the day to decorate and hang senior banners. We were given plenty of tables to set up our end of season gifts for the athletes. We were provided with a podium and microphone for speeches. Mr. Rodriquez was very helpful in assisting our booster club set up our flash drive with a continuous photo montage on a loop on their tv systems on the walls. We did not have a DJ or live music planned, however Mr. Rodriguez was extremely helpful in setting us up with a music station on his iPad to play during down time from speeches. The food was very good and the staff was excellent and very attentive. One of their workers Aidan was extremely friendly and very helpful earlier in the day when I needed assistance with hanging balloons. The Booster Club would absolutely have another event here! The only regret of the night was that we didn't get the sports simulators for two hours instead of one! Next Time! Thank you! The Commack Lacrosse...